Centers of Influence are individuals who, with one phone call, can make good things happen for you.

They can get you what you need. They can open doors for you, family or friends. They can introduce you to other Centers of Influence.

For example, the non-profit I help run, The Ashley Lauren Foundation, puts on a number of events specifically for families who are struggling with pediatric cancer. At one of our events, we were trying to get a restaurant to provide free food for the event. We were unsuccessful until we called one of our Centers of Influence. Within a few minutes, we received a call back from a restaurant, who happily provided us with all of the food we needed.

Another example is me. One of my friends went through a divorce and needed to find a job to make money in order to survive. I made a few phone calls and helped find her a job, which I am happy to say, she if flourishing in.

Who are your Centers of Influence?

Who would you like to have as your Centers of Influence?

What are you doing to pull Centers of Influence into your orbit?

When you have Centers of Influence, they make life much easier for you, your family and your friends. Consequently, building and maintaining relationships with Centers of Influence should be one of your top priorities.

Building relationships with Centers of Influence is a habit. Here’s a link to an article that tells you how to do that: Relationships Are The Currency of The Wealthy – https://richhabits.net/relationships-currency-wealthy/

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

In my Rich Habits Study, I had the fortunate opportunity to peer into the lives of 128 individuals who struggled financially in life. My goal was to figure out the underlying causes of their financial struggles.

I learned many things. For instance, I learned that those who struggled financially had habits that, in many instances, were the polar opposite of the habits of the self-made millionaires in this same Study.

Certain habits I uncovered related to money. Those who struggle financially, I found, are just not very good with their money. There are numerous reasons for this, but I believe it boils down to 12 specific things:

1. Ego – Ego-driven money decisions prevent you from managing whatever money you do have in a prudent manner. Some of the specific examples of this from my Study included:
   • Buy Expensive Things – Ego-driven purchases intended to create the perception they were doing better financially then they actually were.
   • Invincible – This was one of the reasons they did not purchase adequate life insurance
   • Smarter Than They Actually Were – This was one of the reasons why they did not hire experts, seek feedback from experts or why they took Uneducated Risks (taking risks without doing your homework).
2. Emotions – Spending decisions that are based on spur of the moment emotions.
3. Bias – Making money decisions that are not fact-based but, instead, ideologically-based.
4. Ignorance – Not doing your homework. Taking uneducated risks could be Ego-based or Ignorance-based.
5. Overthinking – Simple solutions are usually the correct solutions. Seeking more complicated solutions leads to chaos.
6. Fear – Never make money decisions out of fear. Example would be liquidating investments during a downturn in the stock market.
7. Stress – Studies have shown that stress reduces your IQ by 13%. Never make money decisions when you are under stress.
8. Poor Decision-Making Habit – Making frequent poor decisions is a habit. There are a number of reasons why you make bad decisions: Ego, Emotions, Bias, Ignorance, Fear, Stress, Tired or Hungry (suffering from Decision Fatigue) and Impairment (drugs/alcohol).
9. Desperate Decisions – These are decisions that you make from a position of weakness. They are typically the result of prior bad decisions and always forced upon you by some third party, such as a lender, government agency, credit card company, employer, spouse, family or friends.
10. Impulse – Making spur of the moment purchases. Related to emotion-based spending mistakes but could also be caused by Decision Fatigue.
11. Externalities – Keep up with the Jonse’s spending decisions are an example. Other reasons for making bad money decisions can be due to pressure from spouse, family, friends, work colleagues, etc.
12. Impatience – Making poor money decisions, such as liquidating investments during a downturn in the market can be fear-based or driven by a lack of patience. Making any major purchase without wanting to spend the time in doing your homework, is another example.

As you can see, there are many reasons why we can make mistakes with our money. Being aware of these common pitfalls can help prevent you from making poor money decisions.

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

One of many interesting revelations revealed to me in my Rich Habits Study was the importance of parenting with respect to your adult financial circumstances.

The impact parents had on the self-made millionaires and the poor people in my study was so profound, I decided to write my second book, Rich Kids, in an effort to shine a light on the right and wrong habits to teach children.

What’s most interesting is the fact that my self-made millionaires learned their wealth-building habits from parents who were either poor or middle-class. Somehow, later in life, their parents figured out what to do and what not to do. These Rich Parenting households did not want their children to make the same mistakes they made.

Those who are raised in Rich Parenting households wind up in the top 5% decile in America. This 5% do not struggle financially, have nice homes, vacation at the nicest places and are generally well educated. Having learned the Rich Habits from their parents, they pass along what they’ve learned to their children and their children, in turn, grow up to become happy, successful and wealthy. This generational cycle of wealth perpetuates itself from one generation to the next and it is the very reason why we have a growing wealth gap in America.

Until the rest of the 95% learn what to do and what not to do, with respect to habits, this wealth gap will continue to grow.

Those who are raised in Poor Parenting households represent about 30% of the population in America. They are one paycheck away from being homeless. This 30% struggles financially, rent small homes, are unable to vacation, do not place a high value on either formal or informal education, struggle with unemployment and generally have bad habits which they learned from their parents. Their children, by default, pick up the habits of their parents and, likewise, struggle financially as adults. This generational cycle of poverty perpetuates itself from one generation to the next and it is the reason most poor people remain poor, one generation after the other.

So, OK, it’s your parents fault that you’re poor. Now, what are you going to do about it?

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

Your daily habits are the reason why you are rich, poor or stuck in the middle-class.

Daily habits are the cause, financial circumstances, the effect.

The Rich Habits are unique in the habit world in that they produce a Ripple Effect with respect to other habits.

One Rich Habit will give birth to numerous complementary Rich Habits. One Rich Habit will also eviscerate numerous bad habits, or conflicting habits, that get in the way.

According to a 2006 Willpower Study by Australian researchers Megan Oaten and Ken Chew, they found evidence that supports my findings. In their study on willpower, they introduced one study group to new habits, in an effort to measure willpower. After six months, they brought this study group back for some Q&A. To their great surprise, they discovered that the new habits these individuals were asked to adopt, gave birth to other habits that appeared to compliment or augment the new habits. They coined their habit discovery as the Ripple Effect.

According to various studies, 40% – 60% of all of your daily activities are habits. This means that 40% – 60% of the time you are on auto pilot.

This is a good thing if most of your habits are Rich Habits but this is a very bad thing if most of your habits are Poor Habits.

For example, adopting the Rich Habit of exercising 30 minutes a day aerobically will eventually cause the elimination of the Poor Habit of overeating, junk food eating, cigarette smoking, excessive drinking of alcohol and any other Poor Habit that conflicts with your new Rich Habit.

The Ten Keystone Rich Habits That Will Make Your Rich:

1. Wealthy individuals make themselves self-aware of their habits. This gives them the ability to alter their habits. So, rich Habit #1 is the Self-Awareness Habit.
2. Wealthy individuals set daily, monthly, annual and long-term goals, almost always tied to one or more dreams. This is why pursuing your dreams is so important. Your dreams force you to create goals because goals are the construction crew for your dreams.
3. Wealthy individuals engage in 30 minutes a day of daily career-related reading.
4. Wealthy people are healthy people. They exercise aerobically 30 minutes a day, four days a week and stay below their “caloric threshold” (This is the number of calories consumed each day that will neither make you gain weight nor lose weight). For men this ranges from 2,000 calories a day to 2,600 calories a day. For women this ranges from 1,500 calories a day to 2,100 calories a day.
5. Wealthy individuals manage their relationships every day. Strong relationships are the currency of the wealthy. They employ certain strategies to grow their relationships such as: “The Hello Call”, “The Happy Birthday Call” and “The Life Event Call”. They intentionally seek to add Rich Relationships to their inner circle and they intentionally seek to remove Toxic Relationships from their inner circle.
6. Wealthy individuals live each day in moderation.They eat in moderation, spend in moderation, work in moderation and play in moderation.
7. Wealthy individuals create to-do lists around their goals. In effect, they create daily to-do goals. These to-do goals are almost always tied to one or more dreams they are pursuing.
8. Wealthy individuals engage in “Rich Thinking”. They are upbeat, positive and focused on self-improvement, growth and achievement.
9. Certain Wealthy individuals become rich by saving a minimum of 10-20% of their income and live off of the remaining 80-90%. They then prudently invest their saving, thereby growing their wealth.
10. Wealthy individuals control their thoughts and emotions, every day. People like doing business with people who they feel comfortable around. They feel uncomfortable doing business with emotionally volatile individuals.

Poor Habits That Are Keeping You Poor

• You have too many time-wasting activities. TV, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, texting, etc.
• You eat more than 300 junk food calories a day. You can’t make money from a hospital bed. Eating unhealthy food will damage your health and shortens longevity. It’s hard to be productive when you have chronic health issues.
• You drink too much alcohol too frequently. Moderation means no more than two glasses of beer, wine or hard alcohol a night.
• You drink more than 12 ounces of sugary drinks. Numerous studies have shown that sugar increases the risk factors for cancer.
• You don’t exercise consistently. Lack of exercise can lead to chronic health issues. Once again, you can’t make money from a hospital bed.
• Your relationships are on an “as needed” basis. You only reach out to your family or friends to socialize or when you have problems and need their help. You don’t call them just to say hello, happy birthday or to congratulate them or console them when something happens in their lives. In other words, you ignore them unless you need them for something.
• Procrastination is the rule rather than the exception. You don’t pursue dreams, so you don’t set goals and, therefore, you don’t have a daily to-do goal list that you follow every day.
• You devote very little time to your career beyond working. You do not read to learn more about your career or industry. In most cases, this is due to the fact that you do not like your job.
• You don’t volunteer a minimum of 5 hours a month. Why is this important? Many of the people who run the boards and committees of community-based non-profits are some of the wealthiest and successful people in your community. These people can open doors for you or for your children.
• You talk more than you listen.
• Too often you put your foot in your mouth and saying inappropriate things.
• You are not generous with your time or money.
• You are a spender and not a saver. You don’t save 10% or more of your net income every month. You can’t invest unless you save.
• You spend more than you earn. Your standard of living is too high. You rely on debt to fund your standard of living. Eventually, you run out of debt.
• You don’t control your thoughts and emotions. You lose your temper too often and belittle others too much.

Experts continue to debate how to change a habit, how long it takes and even if it’s possible to get rid of habits.  I’m here to tell you to forget about trying to get rid of your Poor Habits. It’s a waste of time. Instead, forge Rich Habits and they will give birth to complimentary habits. They will also automatically eliminate bad contradictory habits.

The Rich Habits were intentionally designed to be Keystone Habits in order to maximize their effectiveness. Keystone Habits overpower other ordinary habits. Adopting just one Rich Habit will overpower numerous Poor Habits.

All you need to do is add one Rich Habits at a time. Your Poor Habits will begin to fade away all by themselves.

This is the power of the Rich Habits. No will power required in eliminating bad habits. The more Rich Habits you add to your life, over time, the more your life will improve.

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

Habits have a purpose. They save the brain from extra work, which frees up glucose to be used to fuel higher brain functions, such as planning, decision-making, creativity, innovation, the pursuit of goals/dreams and many other things.

Habits are the byproduct of advanced human evolution. They are, in a very real sense, one of the primary reasons humans are at the top of the food chain.

By isolating certain repetitive functions to a very small, almost fractional area, the brain freed itself to expand and perform higher level functions. This expansion gave birth to tool-making, then speech and finally cooperation; humans working together for a single purpose.

Physiologically, habits are a series of interconnected neural pathways, connected along the neural fibers underneath the neocortex, to a central neural hub inside the Basal Ganglia. The moment a neural pathway becomes linked to the Basal Ganglia, it is magically transformed by the brain into a permanent habit.

According to a famous London study performed on 89 people, this process can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days, depending on the complexity of the behavior forming the habit. The more complex the behavior, such as washing your face verses swinging a golf club, the more time it takes for the habit to form.

In another study on habits (Duke University in 2006) it was determined that an average of 40% of all daily human activities are habits. Your daily habits unconsciously control your life. Habits, as boring as they may be, are the secret to success, failure or mediocrity.

Our behaviors, the choices we make, our thinking and our habits create wealth or poverty. Those who were fortunate enough to learn good daily habits from their parents or a mentor, get a head start and this allows them to excel in life.

Others learn good daily habits through the school of hard knocks, pivot into those habits and excel in life.

Those who have forged good daily habits have outstanding lives. They command respect, make most of the money in this world, and control the lives of the millions who have bad habits.

Thanks to my Rich Habits research, I can say unequivocally that your daily habits create your financial circumstances. They are the reason you live in a beach house or a slum.

Your daily habits are the reason you make millions of dollars a year or eke out a living, living paycheck to paycheck.

Your daily habits are the reason you are happy or unhappy.

Your daily habits are the reason your children go to the best colleges or struggle to graduate from high school.

The blueprint of your life and the lives of your children are determined by your daily habits.

That’s how important habits are. If you want to change your life you must change your daily habits.

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

In my five year Rich Habits Study, aerobic exercise kept showing up on the rich person side of the ledger. In fact, 76% of the wealthy in my study said that they exercised aerobically 30 minutes a day, four days a week.

On the non-rich side of the ledger, only 23% did this.

To be honest, I was confused. I was raised to hate the wealthy and one of the “truths” I was spoon fed as a child was that the rich were fat, overweight, smoked cigars, drank in excess and did not exercise, except if you considered golf exercise.

My Rich Habits Study destroyed almost all of the “truths” about the rich, so many poor people, like myself, wrapped around themselves like a sacred blanket.

The fact is, the rich become rich because they forge good habits and those good habits help them to grow and improve, raise their IQs and allow them to be highly productive by staying healthy and energetic. Smarter, healthier, more energetic people have fewer sick days and can work more hours. They can also continue working, well into their 70’s, which only helps to grow their wealth.

Below are five benefits of aerobic exercise that explains why aerobic exercise is a common habit among the rich:

#1 Aerobic Exercise Improves Mental Functioning and Boosts Your IQ

• Aerobic exercise floods the bloodstream with oxygen. This oxygen eventually makes its way to the brain. Since the brain uses 20% of our oxygen reserves, increased oxygen flow into the brain soaks up more free radical waste inside the brain, making it cleaner and healthier.
• Twenty to thirty minutes of aerobic exercise every day has been proven to stimulate the growth of axon branches on each neuron. The number of axon branches you have is directly related to how intelligent you are. So aerobic exercise makes you more intelligent.

#2 Aerobic Exercise Makes You Healthier

• Aerobic exercise increases blood flow, feeds the body with oxygen and strengthens the heart.
• Weight-bearing aerobic exercises, such as walking or jogging, reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
• Aerobic exercise helps lower high blood pressure and control blood sugar.
• If you’ve had a heart attack, aerobic exercise helps prevent subsequent heart attacks.
• Aerobic exercise boosts your high-density lipoprotein (HDL or “good”) cholesterol and lowers your low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol. This results in less buildup of plaques in your arteries.
• Studies show that people who participate in regular aerobic exercise live longer than those who don’t exercise regularly.
• Healthier people have fewer sick days, more energy and this translates into more productivity at work. More productivity makes you more valuable to your organization, customers or clients, which translates into more value and ultimately more money.

#3 Aerobic Exercise Prevents Disease

• Oxygen is like a sponge. It soaks up free radicals (cancer causing, DNA mutating, roaming electrons) and converts these free radicals to carbon dioxide. The blood carries this carbon dioxide to the lungs, which then removes the carbon dioxide from our bodies by exhaling it into the environment.
• Aerobic exercise reduces the risk of many chronic conditions, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke and certain types of cancer.

#4 Aerobic Exercise Reduces the Effects of Stress Which Boosts Your Immune System

• When we feel stress, there is a domino effect of physiology that takes place inside our bodies. When we think negative thoughts that create stress the hypothalamus increases the release of epinephrine and norepinephrine. These hormones make the heart beat faster and prepare the body for fight or flight. If the stress lingers, a gene on chromosome 10, called CYP17, is activated. This gene goes to work to convert cholesterol to cortisol.
• Cortisol is used in virtually every part of the body and it’s purpose is to integrate the body and the mind. The body and mind then work in harmony to escape the external threat that triggered the stress response. One of cortisol’s side effects, unfortunately, is that it depresses the immune system by reducing the production of lymphocytes – white blood cells. The gene CYP17 also turns on another gene called TCF, which suppresses the the creation of a protein called interleukin 2.
• Interleukin 2′s purpose is to put white blood cells on high alert. White blood cells are our main defense against viruses, diseases, germs and any parasites that infect the body. Long-term stress, therefore, impairs our immune system’s ability to fight off these viruses, diseases, germs and parasites.

#5 Aerobic Exercise Makes You Feel Happier

• Aerobic exercise contributes to an overall feeling of well-being through the release of certain happiness neuro-chemicals, such as endorphins and dopamine.
• According to recent studies on happiness, 40% of happiness is activity-driven, 10% is circumstantial and 50% is genetic. Aerobic exercise is considered a happiness activity because of the happiness chemicals released during and after exercise.

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

Do your employees have good habits? Do they have bad habits?

If you don’t know, you should, because habits spread like a virus within every organization. And if those habits are bad, they will negatively infect other employees and undermine your company’s bottom line.

This is why it is so important for employers to nip bad habits in the bud.

Dave Ramsey is one of the top radio hosts in America. Dave interviewed me a few years ago about my book, Rich Habits.

One of the habits that came up in the interview was gossiping. Dave said that he had a rule against gossiping in the office. It’s just not allowed.

If it does happen and Dave finds out, he gives the employee a stern warning. If the gossiping habit continues, post-warning, that employee will find themselves on the unemployment line.

Habits, like gossiping, might seem insignificant, but they’re not.

Dave understood that bad habits, like gossiping, are like cancer. They spread and infect other employees, ultimately undermining all of the good work Dave and his staff were doing in growing their company.

Successful companies, like Dave Ramsey’s, are tuned into the importance of habits and, therefore, seek to create a culture rich in good habits so their company can prosper.

Companies who are ignorant of employee habits, put their company at great risk by allowing bad habits to take root. Eventually those bad habits will filter throughout the organization and the glaring manifestation of this shows up on the Profit & Loss Statement in the form of meager profits or outright losses.

Habits have a cumulative effect on every company’s bottom line. Their impact quietly and slowly accumulates, like snow flakes on a mountainside, eventually resulting in an avalanche.

Good habits create an avalanche of profitability. Bad habits creates an avalanche of losses.

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!

These four statistics from my Rich Habits Study data caught me by surprise:

1. 21% of the wealthy were “A” students.
2. 41% of the wealthy were “B” students.
3. 29% of the wealthy were “C” students.
4. 7% of the wealthy were below average students.

77% of the wealthy were not exceptional students. In fact, more than a third under performed academically.

How can this be?

I had always assumed that success and intelligence, were correlated. But they’re not.

A high IQ has no bearing on success in life!

What I learned from my Study, is that in order to understand habits, I needed to understand how the brain works.

BRAIN SCIENCE BASICS

There are essentially three parts of the brain:

1. Brain Stem
2. Limbic System and
3. Neocortex

All three parts of the brain are connected through a series of nerve fibers.

Brain Stem

The brain stem is the oldest part of the brain. It is sometimes referred to as the Reptilian Brain, the Reactive Brain or the Instinctive Brain. At one time, it was the first and only part of our brain. The brain stem connects to your spinal cord which branches out to form our central nervous system. It is primarily made up of the Medulla Oblongata and the Pons. The brain stem controls all of your autonomic processes such as breathing, heart rate, swallowing, and organ function. It prompts hunger, your sex drive and the fight or flight mechanism. There is no thinking involved with the brain stem. It exists to ensure your survival.

Limbic System

The limbic system is the second oldest part of the brain. It is sometimes referred to as the Emotional Brain. It is where all of your emotions reside and is heavily involved in memory storage, both long-term and short-term.

It includes the following components:

• Amygdala – Memory and emotions.
• Hypothalmus – Muscle vibrations and internal temperature. This is why you shiver when you are sick. The hypothalmus increases body temperature to kill bacteria. Muscle vibrations generate heat to kill bacteria. The hypothalmus also controls appetite and hormones.
• Thalamus – Sits right next to the Basal Ganglia. Affects touch, pain, temperature and muscles. Recent studies have found that the thalamus is the brain’s gate keeper – all external sensory information passes through the thalamus first. Most of that information is discarded.
• Hippocampus – This is where short-term memory is stored. The hippocampus, during deep sleep, moves short-term memory to long-term storage in the neocortex.
• Olfactory Lobe – Triggers smell. This is why smell sometimes evokes emotions. They both are connected in the limbic system.
• Recticular Activating System – Along with the thalamus, the RAS vets the sensory information we take in. Most sensory information is blocked out by the recticular activating system and the thalamus. This is done in order to prevent brain overload.
• Cingulate Cortex – Creates Mirror Neurons that are critical to developing new skills, new habits and for survival. These mirror neurons program children to mirror the behavior and emotions of their parents, good or bad.
• Basal Ganglia – This is the command and control center for habits in the brain. The basal ganglia acts like the hub of a wheel. Each spoke (dendrite) of the basal ganglia reaches into the deepest parts of the neocortex, limbic system and brain stem. Habits are formed when we repeatedly use certain neural pathways. The basal ganglia will create a spoke and link it to other parts of the brain, in an effort to create a habit. The hub and those spokes remain forever. That is why habits are hard to break.

Neocortex

This is the newest, most unusual part of the brain. It is found only in mammals. It is most of your human brain. Fully 5/6ths of our brain mass is made up of the neocortex. It has the most neurons – 40 billion. It is sometimes referred to as the Thinking Brain, Higher Brain, Conscious Brain, Cerebrum or Cerebral Cortex. It is responsible for learning, long-term memory, thought creation and decision making. It is comprised of the four lobes: Parietal, Frontal, Temporal (vision) and Occipital (vision), the Amygdalae and the Corpus Callosum – a bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the neocortex. It takes in and processes sensory data the thalamus and RAS allow it to see.

Neurons

It is estimated that the average adult has between 23 to 100 billion neurons. The jury is still out on this. No one really knows. The preponderance of the research I’ve done seems to skew toward 100 billion.

A neuron is also known as a brain cell. Each neuron is made up of one axon and multiple dendrites. Each axon and dendrite have multiple branches, just like trees.

When neurons talk to each other, this is known as a synapse. Axons receive communications from other neurons through each one of its axon branches. Dendrites send communications to other axons on other neurons through each one of its branches.

The synaptic gap is an indentation on each dendrite that an axon branch sends its signals through. Think of each axon branch as a plug and each dendrite as an outlet. The axon branch plugs into each dendrite outlet and viola, we have a connection.

The most powerful neurons are called spindle cells. These are like neurons on steroids. They are bigger neurons; four times bigger than all other neurons, with long, thick extensions that look like spindles. They reside primarily in the cingulate cortex and are able to connect divergent areas of the brain due to their enormous size. No other species on earth has the abundance of spindle cells humans do. Spindle cells make human unique among all species. Because of their size, spindle cells are capable of faster communication over longer distances. Think of ordinary neurons as local neighborhood roads and spindle cells as the German autobahn highway. Spindle cells are the superhighways of the brain. They are where intuition comes from and gives us the ability to make instant, quick decisions.

Ok, thanks for staying with me so far. I’m almost done with laying our foundation.

Recent Breakthroughs in Brain Science

Neuroscience (the study of the brain), over the past ten years, has completely changed our understanding of how the brain works. We now know that the brain changes every day. We can rewire our brains. This is called neuroplasticity.

We also now know that the hippocampus gives birth to thousands of new neurons every day. This is called neurogenesis. That’s a big revelation. For over a hundred years, we were told that the number of neurons was fixed at birth.

We also now have a better understanding of what memory is and how memory happens. Once again, one of our hardest working brain parts, the hippocampus, is a major player in the formation of long-term memory (called long-term potentiation).

We now know that when we sleep, the hippocampus and the cortex are hard at work creating memories.

We also now know, thanks to the study of, and mapping of, the genome, that genes give us the ability to increase our IQs during our lifetime. We know that IQ can change over time. It’s not fixed. Just because you were a “C” student at age 17 with an IQ of 100 doesn’t necessarily mean you will stay that way.  You can increase your IQ all during your life, even into your eighties.

Success and Your Brain

Because of the recent advancement in our understanding of how the brain works, we now know how it is possible for unexceptional students, with average IQs, to achieve incredible success in life – they are able to increase their IQs as a result of continuous study and the growth that occurs as a result of pursuing goals and dreams.

Successful people forge certain Rich Habits that enable them to improve their brains and increase their intelligence during their lifetimes. These activities increase brain mass by increasing and strengthening old neural connections and by creating entirely new neural connections.

Let’s touch on some of the brain-building activities of wealthy, successful people.

Daily Learning

Every time you learn something new, you re-wire your brain. New neurons are recruited and begin firing with one another (known as synapses). As new neural pathways are created by learning, your brain actually increases in size; your intelligence grows.

Eighty-eight percent of the wealthy in my study, sometime prior to realizing financial success in life, formed the daily Rich Habit of reading to learn 30 minutes or more every day. This self-education daily habit allowed them to increase their cognitive abilities during their lives, which contributed to their success in life.

Daily Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise floods the bloodstream with oxygen. This oxygen eventually makes its way to the brain. Since the brain uses 20% of our oxygen reserves, increased oxygen flow into the brain soaks up more free radicals inside the brain, making it cleaner and healthier. Increased oxygen flow into the brain also increases the the production of brain fuel (glucose or ketones).

Twenty to thirty minutes of aerobic exercise every day has been proven to stimulate the growth of axons and axon branches on each neuron.

The number of axons and axon branches your brain has is directly related to your intelligence.

Aerobic exercise also increases the release of neurotrophins, or Nerve Growth Factor (NFG). NFG stimulates the growth of neurons, helps maintain a healthy coating around every neuron (called myelin sheath) and stimulates synaptic communications between neurons.

Increased synaptic communication translates into better memory and faster recall.

So, daily aerobic exercise increases your intelligence, each and every time you engage in it.

Avoid Intoxication

Our livers are able to process at most, about two ounces of alcohol an hour (about two 12 ounce glasses of beer).  Anything in excess of that allows alcohol to enter your bloodstream and this makes its way into your brain.

Neurologists are still debating the long-accepted belief that alcohol kills brain cells. Some say it does, others disagree.

What they all agree on is that once alcohol reaches the brain it infiltrates the glutamate receptors in your synapses, damaging the neurons’ ability to fire off signals.

If you regularly drink in excess, you are causing long-term damage to these receptors and this can cause long-term or permanent damage to your memory and your motor skills.

Is it a coincidence that 84% of the wealthy in my study drank less than two ounces of alcohol a day? I don’t think so. Their moderation in the consumption of alcohol helps them keep their brains growing and improving.

Getting a Good Night’s Sleep

Eighty-nine percent of the wealthy in my study slept an average of seven or more hours each night.

Why is sleep so important to brain function?

To understand this, we need to understand sleep. Everyone who sleeps goes through four to six sleep cycles that last between 60 – 90 minutes per sleep cycle. Each of these sleep cycles is composed of five separate levels of sleep: Alpha, theta, delta, rapid eye movement (REM) and then back to theta.

For each individual sleep cycle, the first three sleep levels (alpha, theta and delta) last 65 minutes. REM lasts 20 minutes and the final level of sleep lasts 5 minutes.

The number of hours you sleep is less important than the number of complete sleep cycles you have when you sleep. Five complete sleep cycles a night is considered optimal. Completing less than four sleep cycles a night, however, negatively affects our health.

REM sleep is particularly important as one of its important functions is long-term memory storage. During REM sleep, what we’ve learned the day before is transported from the hippocampus to the neocortex for long-term memory storage.

If we do not complete at least four sleep cycles a night, long-term memory storage becomes impaired. Completing at least four sleep cycles the night after learning a new skill or the night after studying for a test, locks in the new skill or study material.

If we get less than four complete sleep cycles the night after learning a new skill or the night after studying for a test, it is as if we did not practice the skill or did not study at all because it never fully gets transferred to long-term memory.

So sleep helps you remember what you’ve learned.

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You can never truly know your limitations, until you test them.

Individuals who succeed in life, in particular Dreamer-Entrepreneurs, know their limitations because they pursue dreams and goals that test their limitations.

Dreams force you to create goals. Goals are the construction crew for each one of your dreams.

Failed goals are a neon sign informing you that you just encountered a personal limitation.

Failing at achieving a goal is a good thing – it exposes a limitation that you didn’t know you had. Once you become aware of any limitations you might have, you can eliminate it, which is precisely what successful people do.

How do successful people get rid of their limitations?

They do one of two things:

1. They gain knowledge or skills that enable them to grow, thereby erasing a limitation or
2. They hire someone with the knowledge or skills they lack.

When it comes to limitations, those who fail do so for a number of reasons:

1. They are unaware of their limitations
2. They are aware of their limitations but ignore them
3. They fail to gain knowledge or develop skills to help them remove a limitation or
4. They fail to secure the assistance of experts who possess the knowledge or skills they lack.

Knowing your limitations is a Rich Habit.

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I love to study both rich and poor people. They always have pearls of wisdom, forged in the fire of experience, that force you to reevaluate your habits, thinking and the decisions you make.

I was recently doing some research on Jon Taffer, the host of the award-winning show Bar Rescue.

One of the things Jon said really rang a bell for me. He said, “never allow anyone to rush you into making a decision. When you feel rushed, this puts you in crisis mode and causes you to make bad decisions.”

This resonated with me because that was one of the seven factors that cause bad decisions, according to my Rich Habits research.

When you make too many bad decisions, that’s a pattern. Patterns indicate habits are at work, behind the scenes, causing you to make bad decisions.

The problem with making habitual bad decisions is that they lead to desperate decisions. Desperate decisions force you to do things you do not want to do – things you intuitively know are not going to be good for the future you.

Like a domino effect, bad decisions force you into a position of weakness, which then forces you into making desperate decisions. Desperate decisions eventually come back to haunt you.

Unlike most ordinary bad decisions, desperate decisions are typically well-thought out bad decisions that you must make – you have little choice. You’re boxed in and you know it.

Desperate decisions always are one-sided – they benefit one party and hurt you.

So, in order to avoid being forced into make desperate decisions, you must first understand why you are regularly making bad decisions.

Bad decisions are caused by 7 factors:

1. Impulsive Decisions – Rash, spontaneous, spur of the moment decisions. These are never well-thought out decisions.
2. Emotional Decisions – Making decisions when elated, angry or sad.
3. Uneducated Decisions – Not doing your homework before making a decision.
4. Making Decisions When Tired – Your prefrontal cortex is the CEO of your brain. When you’re tired, your CEO is impaired and unable to make good decisions.
5. Making Decisions When Hungry – When you are hungry, this is your body’s way of telling you it needs fuel. When your prefrontal cortex lacks fuel, it will not be functioning at its best.
6. Making Decisions While Under Stress – Stress suppresses the prefrontal cortex and allows the emotional center of the brain to take control of the decision-making process.
7. Making Decisions While Impaired – When you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, your prefrontal cortex, your CEO, is impaired and not functioning properly.

When you forge the habit of making good decisions, those decisions put you in a position of strength. When you are in a position of strength, you are not forced to do something you do not want to do. You can walk away. You can say no.

Good decisions are decisions that follow three basic rules:

1. Doing your homework
2. Seeking feedback from experts and
3. Deliberation – giving your brain time to consider all of the facts before making an informed decision.

Good decisions usually work out, and when they do, they put you in a position of strength. This enables you to make future positions of strength decisions, decisions that create some long-term benefit, some future good outcome you desire.

It’s not realistic for me to tell you to avoid position of weakness decisions. It is not realistic because position of weakness decisions are often forced upon you by third parties. These third parties might be a bank, a tax agency, an employer, a spouse, a vendor, customer, etc.

It is, however, realistic for me to advise you to follow the above three-step process when it comes to making good decisions.

Good decisions are a firewall against needing to make position of weakness, desperate decisions.

 

My mission is to share my unique research in order to help others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. If you find value in these articles, please share them with your inner circle and encourage them to Subscribe. Thank You!